George Tyler Wood (March 12, 1795 – September 3, 1858) was an American
military officer
An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service.
Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent context ...
and
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
who served as the
second Governor of Texas.
Background
Most records dealing with Wood's personal life have been lost due to fire or other causes. As a result many details about his life are unknown.
Wood was born near
Cuthbert, Georgia
Cuthbert is a city in, and the county seat of, Randolph County, Georgia, United States. The population was 3,520 in 2019.
History
Cuthbert was founded by European Americans in 1831 as seat of the newly formed Randolph County, after Indian Remo ...
on March 12, 1795.
His mother was Elizabeth Burris Wood. His father, name unknown, died when he was five.
When he was nineteen, Wood raised a
company
A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...
of volunteers for the
Creek War
The Creek War (1813–1814), also known as the Red Stick War and the Creek Civil War, was a regional war between opposing Indigenous American Creek factions, European empires and the United States, taking place largely in modern-day Alabama ...
and fought in the
Battle of Horseshoe Bend.
According to tradition, Wood met
Sam Houston
Samuel Houston (, ; March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863) was an American general and statesman who played an important role in the Texas Revolution. He served as the first and third president of the Republic of Texas and was one of the first two i ...
and
Edward Burleson
Edward Burleson (December 15, 1798 – December 26, 1851) was the third vice president of the Republic of Texas. After Texas was annexed to the United States, he served in the State Senate. Prior to his government service in Texas, he was a com ...
during the campaign.
Wood operated a successful
dry goods
Dry goods is a historic term describing the type of product line a store carries, which differs by region. The term comes from the textile trade, and the shops appear to have spread with the mercantile trade across the British Empire (and forme ...
business based in Cuthbert. During a buying trip in 1837 he met a young widow named Martha Evans Gindrat, daughter of Jesse and Elizabeth (Fitzpatrick) Evans, during a stop in
Milledgeville, Georgia
Milledgeville is a city in and the county seat of Baldwin County in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is northeast of Macon and bordered on the east by the Oconee River. The rapid current of the river here made this an attractive location to buil ...
.
The two married on September 18, 1837.
The marriage produced two children in addition to the three Martha brought from her previous marriage.
Beyond his business interests, Wood was a member of the
Georgia General Assembly
The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Each of the General Assembly's 236 members serve two-year terms and are directly ...
from 1837–38.
Texas
In 1839, Wood and his family moved to the
Republic of Texas
The Republic of Texas ( es, República de Tejas) was a sovereign state in North America that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846, that bordered Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande in 1840 (another breakaway republic from Mex ...
.
After exploring the
Brazos,
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
and
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...
rivers, he selected a site near the present-day town of
Point Blank
Point-blank range is any distance over which a certain firearm can hit a target without the need to compensate for bullet drop, and can be adjusted over a wide range of distances by sighting in the firearm. If the bullet leaves the barrel paral ...
in
Liberty County (now in
San Jacinto County).
At this site he quickly built a prosperous
plantation
A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
.
Wood was elected to the
Congress of the Republic of Texas : ''For the current Texas legislative body, see Texas Legislature.''
The Congress of the Republic of Texas was the national legislature of the Republic of Texas established by the Constitution of the Republic of Texas in 1836. It was a bicameral ...
in 1841, representing Liberty County in the House of Representatives. In 1845, during the
annexation of Texas by the United States, he represented his home county during the convention which wrote the
state constitution Wood was elected to the
Texas Senate
The Texas Senate ( es, Senado de Texas) is the upper house of the Texas State Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing single-member districts across the U.S. state of Texas, with populations of approximately 806,000 per cons ...
following Texas's admission to the United States. When the
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...
began he resigned his senate seat and became
Colonel
Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...
of the Second Regiment Texas Mounted Volunteers. During his service he was present for the capture of
Monterrey
Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...
.
Governorship
The 1847 decision of Governor
James Pinckney Henderson
James Pinckney Henderson (March 31, 1808 – June 4, 1858) was an American and Republic of Texas lawyer, politician, and soldier, and the first governor of the State of Texas.
Early years
He was born in Lincolnton, North Carolina, on March 31, ...
to not seek another term left a wide open race for his replacement. A
race dominated by five candidates developed with the key issue being how to deal with the public debt.
About a month before the election one of the candidates,
Isaac Van Zandt
Isaac Van Zandt (July 10, 1813 – October 11, 1847) was a political leader in the Republic of Texas. Van Zandt County, Texas, was named in his honor.
Early life
Van Zandt was born on July 10, 1813 in Franklin County, Tennessee to Jacob and ...
, died of
yellow fever
Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...
. Most of Van Zandt's support shifted to Wood. As a result he won the election with 7,154 votes compared to second place finisher James B. Miller with 5,106.
[Hendrickson p. 52]
When the governor took office, Texas had
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
5,500,00 in outstanding
bonds with no obvious means to repay the debt.
To deal with the public debt, he advocated a plan to sell state land to the
U.S. Federal government
The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 ...
. The
Texas Legislature
The Texas Legislature is the state legislature of the US state of Texas. It is a bicameral body composed of a 31-member Senate and a 150-member House of Representatives. The state legislature meets at the Capitol in Austin. It is a powerful ...
did not support this plan and, after negotiations with Wood, passed a bill calling for the state
Accountant
An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy.
Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certifi ...
and
comptroller
A comptroller (pronounced either the same as ''controller'' or as ) is a management-level position responsible for supervising the quality of accounting and financial reporting of an organization. A financial comptroller is a senior-level executi ...
to determine the exact amount of debt before a method of payment was determined.
The Wood administration also saw an intensification of a dispute over the status of
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...
. Texas considered New Mexico part of its territory but the claim was not recognized by the Federal government.
To strengthen its claim, the Texas Legislature created
Santa Fe County
Santa Fe County ( es, Condado de Santa Fe; meaning ''Holy faith'' in Spanish) is located in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2010 census, the population was 144,170, making it New Mexico's third-most populous county, after Bernalillo Cou ...
and the eleventh judicial district. When the judge appointed to preside over the new district arrived in
Santa Fe, he found
federal troops already in the city who were determined to support the federal position.
Other issues dealt with by Wood were the organization of towns and counties, establishing court buildings, and reforming government operations.
To defend the state's western frontier, a request was sent to
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...
asking for a string of forts to be constructed.
Reapportionment
Apportionment is the process by which seats in a legislative body are distributed among administrative divisions, such as states or parties, entitled to representation. This page presents the general principles and issues related to apportionme ...
of the state was the most contested issue to arise during Wood's term. The coastal and central sections of the state, fearing loss of representation, opposed the proposal while the northeastern section supported the effort. Despite the opposition, a reapportionment bill was passed by the legislature.
[Hendrickson p. 53]
On February 21, 1848, Wood presided over the Texas Democratic convention, the first true
political convention
The terms party conference (UK English), political convention ( US and Canadian English), and party congress usually refer to a general meeting of a political party. The conference is attended by certain delegates who represent the party memb ...
to be held in the state. This was followed by an
1849 effort to win a second term. The primary challenger to the governor was
Peter H. Bell
Peter Hansborough Bell (May 11, 1810Various sources give multiple dates in May 1810 and May 1812 for Bell's birth. Bell's gravestone uses a May 1812 date.March 8, 1898) was an American military officer and politician who served as the third Gove ...
who ran on the issues of frontier defense and the New Mexico dispute. Wood strongly defended the positions he had taken but was defeated by a margin of 10,319 votes to 8,754.
Later life
After leaving office, Wood returned to his farm.
In addition to his plantation, he established a
mercantile
Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market.
An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct exchan ...
business in
Galveston
Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galvesto ...
.
[Hendrickson p. 53–4] He made unsuccessful runs to be elected Governor in 1853 and 1855. He died at his home on September 3, 1858.
[Hendrickson p. 54]
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, George Thomas
1795 births
1858 deaths
Democratic Party governors of Texas
Democratic Party Texas state senators
American military personnel of the Mexican–American War
People from Randolph County, Georgia
People from San Jacinto County, Texas
Georgia (U.S. state) Democrats
19th-century American politicians